Sex-role egalitarianism, or the degree to which one perceives the gend
er of an individual to be independent of his/her abilities, rights and
opportunities, was tested as a moderator of gender congruence in the
evaluation of job applicants. It was hypothesized that scores on a mea
sure of sex role egalitarianism would moderate the evaluation of femal
e or male applicants in masculine-typed, neutral, or feminine-typed oc
cupations. It was expected that the biases against an individual apply
ing for a gender-atypical occupation would be reduced by a high degree
of egalitarianism, whereas in neutral occupations, no bias would occu
r. A sample of 144 undergraduates participated in the study. Results f
rom a sample composed mostly of white undergraduates supported part of
this hypothesis with a three-way interaction between gender of applic
ant, gender type of occupation and ser role egalitarianism. In additio
n, the characteristics exhibited by the egalitarianism measure used in
this investigation provided some interesting insights into the psycho
metric properties of the construct. Implications of these findings are
discussed.